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Doctrinal Statement

I. THE SCRIPTURES

We believe the Bible, containing the sixty-six books from Genesis to Revelation, is the Word of God. We believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible in its original documents. We believe that the Bible was written by Spirit-controlled men; therefore, it is inerrant and is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice. (II Tim 3:16-17; II Pet 1: 20-21; Rev 22:18-19)

II. THE GODHEAD

We believe that there is one and only one true and living God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit, maker of the heavens and the earth; that He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three equal Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great works of creation and redemption. (Deut 6:4; Matt 28:19; Isa 44:6; I John 5:7)

A. CONCERNING THE FATHER: We believe Him to be perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power. We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 11: 33-36)

B. CONCERNING THE SON: We believe in Jesus Christ as God’s only begotten Son, begotten of the Father from all eternity, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who, for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was made man, born of a virgin, having an absolutely sinless life. We believe in His sacrificial and substitutionary death for all men, His bodily resurrection on the third day according to the Scriptures, His ascension into heaven and presence at the Father’s right hand as our great High Priest and as Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body. We further believe in His personal, pre-millennial return to restore Israel to the land, to judge the nations, and to set up the Kingdom promised in the Scriptures in the Old Testament. (Matt 1:23; John 1:1-3, 14; Luke 1:35; I Cor 15:4; Rom 3:24-25; I Pet 2:24; Eph 1:7; I Pet 1: 3-5; Acts 1: 9-10; Heb 9:24; 7: 25; Rom 8:34; I John 2:1-2)

C. CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT: We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with the Father and the Son, and of the same nature; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purposes are fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, righteousness, and of judgment; that He bears witness to the truth of the gospel in preaching and testimony. We believe that each person, upon believing in Christ, is regenerated, baptized, indwelt, and sealed by the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is dependent upon a moment-by-moment yieldedness to the Spirit. We believe that the phenomenal sign gifts terminated with the completion of the writing of Scripture. (John 14:16, 17; Rom 8:9; John 16:8-14; II Cor 3:6; I Cor 12:12-14; Eph 1:13-14; 5:18)

D. We believe in the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. (Dan 4:34; I Peter 2:16; John 3:16)

III. SALVATION

We believe that man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is now by nature lost and totally depraved; that only through the merits of Christ can he be saved; that in this dispensation God is offering full, free and perfect salvation by grace, apart from any human merit or effort, to all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, through faith; that when saved, the believer is the possessor of eternal life being kept by the power of God and is the possessor of two natures; that he may be victorious over the old nature and walk in the power of the new nature through the operation and energy of the Holy Spirit; that he is called to a life of separation from all religious apostasy and worldly and sinful practices, and is obligated to be a witness to all men, by life and by work, of the saving power of Christ. (Gen 1:26-27; Rom 3:22-23; Eph 2:1-3, 12; Rom 6:23; John 10:28; Eph 2:8-10; John 1:12; Rom 6:13-14; 8:12-13; Gal 5:16-25; I Pet 1:18-19; I John 5:13)

IV. THE CHURCH

We believe that the church is the body of Christ; that it had its earthly origin on the day of Pentecost and is composed of all who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to the saving of their souls; that all such are united in one body, whether Jew or Gentile, with Christ as their living head and are responsible to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian prejudice and denominational bigotry and loving one another with a pure heart fervently; that the hope of the church is the translation of the saints, that is, our gathering together unto Him before the time of the Tribulation; that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament. (Matt 28: 19; Rom 12: 5; Eph 1:22-23; 5:25-27; I Cor 1: 10-13; I Cor 10:16-17; 12:12-14; I Thess 4:13-18; Rev 3:10; Acts 14:27; 20: 17, 28-32; I Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)

V. DISPENSATIONAL INTERPRETATION

We believe in the dispensational interpretation of the Word of God but refuse that method of interpretation which opposes either the Lord's Supper or water baptism as a scriptural ordinance for the church in this dispensation. We believe that both the Lord's Supper and water baptism are proper and scripturally in order for this dispensation of grace. (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; Acts 18:8; 19:5; I Cor 11:23-26)

VI. SATAN

We believe in the personality of Satan; that he is the unholy god of this age, and "the prince of the power of the air," the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience, and that he is destined to the judgment of eternal justice in the lake of fire. (Job 1:6-7; Isa 14:12-17; Matt 4:2-11; 25:41; II Cor 11:14; Eph 2:2; Rev 20:10)

VII. THE ETERNAL STATE

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment; that the souls of the redeemed are now, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the resurrection of the just, when spirit, soul and body will be re-united to be glorified forever with the Lord; that the souls of the unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the last resurrection, when, with soul and body re-united, they shall appear at the Great White Throne and shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment. (Matt 25:41-46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Rev 20:4-6, 11-15; Luke 23-43; II Cor. 5:8; Phil 1:23; 3:21; I Thess. 4:16-17; Luke 16:19-26; Matt 25:41-46; II Thess 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48)

CLARIFICATION STATEMENT

We believe in the sovereignty of God; that He chose before the foundation of the world those who would be saved. (John 6:44, Eph. 1:4-6) We also believe that, somehow within God’s sovereignty, He has given men a free will; that Christ died for the sins of all (elect and non-elect) men. God’s offer of salvation to ‘whosoever’ is legitimate. God holds those who do not receive Christ responsible for their unbelief. (John 3:16; Romans 10:13; I Tim. 4:10)

We believe man was created innocent, but in sinning he brought spiritual and physical death to himself and all his posterity. We believe the sole condition for receiving everlasting life is faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died a substitutionary death on the cross for the sins of the whole world and rose bodily from the grave. No act of obedience, such as commitment to obey, sorrow for sin, turning from one’s sin, baptism or submission to the Lordship of Christ, may be added to, or considered part of faith as a condition for receiving eternal life. This saving transaction between God and the sinner is simply the giving and receiving of a free gift.

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